Backgammon Command Summary

Start a new game. The server will randomly determine who
goes first by rolling a die for each player until one player has a higher die than the
other. This player will be Ohs, and will use the dice rolled for his first move.
With the "-force" option, userid1 will have the first move and will be Ohs. This option was added for those who wish to play more than one game and allow a certain player to go first no matter what the roll of the dice was.

Make a move on the specified board (if it is your turn).
Move is entered as a comma separated list of individual moves, each of the form:

[repeatx]move
where:
repeat is either 2, 3 or 4. move will be repeated repeat times.
move is of the form:
fromto[to[to[to]]]
where
from is 1 to 24, H (for home) or B (for the bar).
to is either
-pos
or :die
where pos is 1 to 24, H (for home) or B (for the bar).
die is one of the dice rolled.

If you have men on the bar, you do not need to enter from
and the -. Simply enter pos. A similar rule applies when moving off the board. In
this case you need not enter the to. Simply enter from.

Toggle greedy mode on or off (Default: OFF). While in greedy
mode, if all of your pieces are in the "home" area, and all of your dice can be
used to move pieces off the board, then the move is made for you automatically (similar to
a forced move).

Backgammon is a game involving the skill of two players and
the luck of two dice. There are two players, eks and ohs, and each player gets fifteen
men. The object of the game is to re- move all your men from the board before the opponent
does. The board consists of twenty-four positions, a 'bar' and a 'home' for each player.
The initial board looks like this:

A position may have zero or more pieces on it, e.g.
position 12 has five eks pieces on it, while position 11 does not have any pieces of
either color.

Moves and Points:

Moves are made along the positions on the board according
to their numbers. eks moves in the positive direction (clockwise from 1 to 24), and ohs
moves in the negative direction (coun- terclockwise from 24 to 1).

A turn consists of rolling the dice, and moving the number
of positions indicated on each die. The two numbers can be used to move one man the sum of
the two rolls, or two men the number on each individual die. For example, if eks rolled 6
3 at the start of the game, he might move a man from 1 to 7 to 10, using both dice for one
man, or he might move two men from position 12, one to 15 and one to 18. (eks did not have
to choose two men start- ing from the same position.) In addition, doubles are treated
specially in backgammon. When a player rolls doubles, he gets to move as if he had four
dice instead of two. For instance, if you rolled double 2's, you could move one man eight
positions, four men two positions each, or any permutation in between.

However, there are certain limitations, called 'points.' A
player has a point when he has two or more men on the same posi- tion. This gives him
custody of that position, and his opponent cannot place his men there, even if passing
through on the way to another position. When a player has six points in a row, it is
called a 'wall,' since any of his opponent's men behind the wall cannot pass it and are
trapped, at least for the moment. Notice that this could mean that a player could not use
part or all of his roll. However, he must use as much of his roll as possible.

Removing Men from the Board:

The most important part of the game is removing men, since
that is how you win the game. Once a man is removed, he stays off the board for the
duration of the game. However, a player cannot remove men until all his men are on his
'inner table,' or the last six positions of the board (19-24 for eks, 6-1 for ohs).

To get off the board, a player must roll the exact number
to get his man one position past the last position on the board, or his 'home.' Hence, if
eks wanted to remove a man from position 23, he would have to roll a 2, anything else
would be used for another man, or for another purpose. However, there is one ex- ception.
If the player rolling has no men far enough to move the roll made, he may move his
farthest man off the board. For exam- ple, if eks's farthest man back was on position 21,
he could re- move men from that position if he rolled a 5 or a 6, as well as a 4. Since he
does not have men on 20 (where he could use a 5) or on 19 (where he could use a 6), he can
use these rolls for posi- tion 21. A player never has to remove men, but he must make as
many moves as possible.

Hitting Blots:

Although two men on a position form an impenetrable point,
a lone man is not so secure. Such a man is called a 'blot' and has the potential of
getting hit by an opposing man. When a player's blot is hit, he is placed on the bar, and
the first thing that player must do is move the man off the bar. Such moves are counted as
if the bar is one position behind the first position on the board. Thus if eks has a man
on the bar and rolls 2 3, he must move the man on the bar to position 2 or 3 before moving
any other man. If ohs had points on positions 2 and 3, then eks would forfeit his turn.
Being on the bar is a very bad position, for often a player can lose many turns trying to
move off the bar, as well as being set back the full distance of the board.

The Doubling Cube:

In backgammon, each game is worth one point. If you
"double" your are telling your opponent "I am so confident that I'm going
to win, I'm willing to double the value of the game". If you're playing for money,
you've doubled the value of the stakes. If you're playing in a match (something that will
be added eventually) you are attempting to make the game worth 2 (or more) points towards
the end match condition.

The player who doubles, "Offers a double", does
so before they roll their dice for that turn. The player who is "offered" the
double has the option to accept the double, and play continues, or refusing the double,in
which case the game is over, and the doubling player wins whatever value the doubling
cube had *before* the double was offered.

However, currently the doubling cube has no effect on the
pbmserv play. Your rating is changed using the same algorithm regardless of the state of
the doubling cube.

Ending the Game and Scoring:

Winning a game usually wins one point, the normal value of
a game. However, if the losing player has not removed any men yet, then the winning player
wins double the game value, called a 'gammon.' If the losing player has a player on the
bar or on the winner's inner table, then the winner gets triple the game value, which is
called a 'backgammon.' (So that's where the name comes from!)

Strategy:

Some general hints when playing: Try not to leave men open
unless absolutely necessary. Also, it is good to make as many points as possible. Often,
two men from different positions can be brought together to form a new point. Although
walls (six points in a row) are difficult to form, many points nestled close- ly together
produce a formidable barrier. Also, while it is good to move back men forward, doing so
lessens the opportunity for you to hit men. Finally, remember that once the two player's
have passed each other on the board, there is no chance of either team being hit, so the
game reduces to a race off the board. Addi- tional hints on strategy are presented in the
practice game.